The present invention relates generally to interface devices for allowing humans to interface with computer systems, and more particularly to low-cost computer interface devices that allow computer systems to provide haptic feedback to the user.
Haptic feedback interface devices are currently available to interface a person with a host computer device such as a personal computer, game console, portable computer, or other type of computer. Several different types of consumer level haptic feedback devices are available, including joysticks, mice, steering wheels, gamepads, etc. The computer displays a graphical environment such as a game, graphical user interface, or other program and the user controls a graphical object or other aspect of the graphical environment by inputting data using the interface device, typically by moving a manipulandum or “user manipulatable object” such as a joystick handle or steering wheel. The computer also may output haptic feedback information to the interface device which controls the device to output haptic feedback to the user using motors or other actuators on the device. The haptic feedback is in the form of vibrations, spring forces, textures, or other sensations conveyed to the user who is physically grasping or otherwise contacting the device. The haptic feedback is correlated to events and interactions in the graphical environment to convey a more immersive, entertaining, and functional environment to the user. In some interface devices, kinesthetic feedback is provided, while others may provide tactile feedback; these are collectively and generally referenced herein as “haptic feedback.”
In most commercially available haptic feedback interface devices, the goal has been to reduce the processing loading on the host computer by offloading as much of the processing as possible to the device itself. Thus, while haptic feedback devices may have significant differences, most of the more sophisticated devices share a common feature: a local microcontroller on the device that is able to compute and output forces as directed by high-level commands from the host computer. These dual-architecture systems produce very high quality haptic feedback output while presenting a minimal processing load on the host system.
However, in order to achieve these capabilities on the device, there is a price to pay. The force computations that are required to generate the output can be computationally expensive operations. As a result the microcontroller that is embedded in the interface device needs to be sufficiently powerful in order to handle this processing. The end result is that the device microcontroller is expensive, and the completed interface products have a significant cost to consumers. While this extra cost is bearable when the market for these devices is new, the cost of these consumer devices is constantly being driven to lower levels as the market continues to mature.
In order to reduce the processing power (and thereby the cost) of the device microcontroller and maintain the product quality level, other alternate solutions should be explored.